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Thursday, December 31, 2009

Finished my New Orleans novel.Outlined smart revision for the WV novel.Learned how to write a query (thx Steve Himmer).Made the Wigleaf top 50.Got 10 stories published, 3 forthcoming (11 online, 2 print)Pimped new fiction at 2 conferences.2 stories nommed for Dzanc's Best of the WebHelped/encouraged/midwived 5 students get published in very cool places.Reviewed for Short Story Month by Steven J. McDermottVIPs on vsf blog.Started a collection of spooky/creepy vsf.Forced poetry friends to start publishing again.Listened while a lot of lit scholars confided in me about their basement novels.

Friday, December 25, 2009

Morning! An arduino is a wad of electro-crap that can help you make things do other things.

Here is my version of "The Gift of the Magi": Dean ordered an arduino for Danny, and when we gave it to Danny on Christmas Eve-Eve, he accepted it graciously, but really you could see that we might as well have asked him to carve us up some wooden shoes, pronto. Dean was also put off by the item, and all the way home said things like "Good thing you didn't get me one of those!"

But of course I had ordered one for Dean. It just hadn't arrived yet. And in the mean time I'd also ordered Dean a Mandobird (seriously endorsed by Danny), an item that put me way over budget.

So I attempt to cancel the arduino order for partial correction of the budget, but the seller tells me the order was delivered already. But of course he was referring to Dean's order, as I discovered from the tracking info he sent.

It's 2pm December 24, and Dean gets up from his nap. I tell him we need to check the card to make sure we weren't charged for a thing that won't get delivered. I explain the order mix-up, and we agree that it's okay because arduinos are too tricky for Christmas. I unwrap the arduino book, and we decide to give it to Danny when he gets back from Tennessee.

At 3pm, the mailman delivers the ardino.

At 4pm, I walk through the slushy streets to buy some wine gifts at the Korean grocery near our house. Some jerk speeds right by me in a car, spraying slush and gravel up, despite the fact that I was yelling, "Hey Asshole!"

But then we went to friends for a marvelous X-eve dinner, and Dean has been trying to spin his "glad I don't have an arduino" remarks ever since.

Moral? no arduino book for Danny.

As I write this on Christmas morning, Dean is still in bed. He doesn't know about the Mando (well he probably does), so don't tell him. He doesn't know about the budget yet, either. (he probably does)

Friday, December 11, 2009

So after a 4 month dry spell, I have a new story out! "Karaoke" is another Elvis thing from my novel, Social Aid & Pleasure. I'd submitted it for the Music Obsession issue (#36), but Steven didn't think it quite fit, so he held on to it for #37.

Thursday, December 3, 2009

The Collagist and >killauthor will always be linked in my mind for the obvious reasons--they emerged simultaneously and powerfully, but with very different attitudes.

I don't want to go further than that except to say that The Collagist is to >killauthor as Tiger Beat is to 16 Magazine. Both are necessary. If you don't know the difference, then I don't want to know you.

A couple of close (not just facebook) friends have poems in the latest >killauthor, so go read them:Lucy Jilka and Danny Collier. I don't think the >killauthor eds were aware that Jilka and Collier have contributed to another issue together.